Video of Bobby Shea attacking Ty Rattie in the tunnel at Allstate Arena.
(credit to Wolfkeeper.org on YouTube for the videos)

The game also got out of hand at moments, originally stemming from Wolves’ tough guy Eric Selleck coming off the bench on a line change to engage with IceHogs’ rookie Pat Mullane, who had just been jousting with Ty Rattie.

But the “highlight” of the evening belonged to Bobby Shea. The first year pro is a defenseman on the IceHogs. He took a run at St. Louis Blues’ prospect Ty Rattie with 36 seconds to go in the middle period.

Shea led with a high elbow that struck Rattie in the head. Afterwards, as Rattie was chirping at Shea in response to that action, Shea dropped his gloves and proceeded to level Rattie with a series of unanswered punches. Its believed Rattie suffered a broken nose in that sequence – be it on the elbow or in the fight. Read more »

For those who buy or read The Committed Indian program on, or at Blackhawks home games, I have a 2-page feature running in Wednesday’s issue that hopefully you’ll find interesting. The following is a story I did on Antti Raanta that ran in The Committed Indian back in November. I’ve had requests to post it here, but kept forgetting to do so. So here it is, as it ran on 11/6/13. Raanta was recalled to the Blackhawks eleven days later, after Nikolai Khabibulin went down with a groin injury. Stan Bowman announced today that Khabibulin underwent shoulder surgery that Bowman said would keep the veteran netminder out of action another 4-5 months. Khabibulin will turn 41 this coming Monday. While Bowman claimed Khabibulin “could” return this season, that timetable would put Khabibulin out until around the time of the Stanley Cup Finals. Thus, Raanta, for the foreseeable future, is Corey Crawford’s backup and second on the Blackhawks goaltending depth chart.

A long way from his home in Finland, Antti Raanta led the Rockford IceHogs onto the ice at AT&T Center in San Antonio last month. Outside, it was just another steamy October Saturday in south Texas. Inside, the IceHogs were opening the 2013-14 season. And for Raanta, it was the beginning of the next stage in his pursuit of realizing his dream of becoming an NHL goaltender. Read more »

The Rockford IceHogs began the 2013-14 regular season on Saturday night with a porous performance in San Antonio, Texas.

A re-stocked group of young IceHogs led by now AHL veterans Brandon Pirri, Jeremy Morin and Dylan Olsen committed one careless turnover after another in route to a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers minor league affiliate.

The loss was also costly in that the IceHogs lost two players to injury.

Annti Raanta left the game at the 5:36 mark of the first period. Raanta had taken an Eric Selleck 12-foot one-time attempt off the inside of his left knee at the 2:58 mark of the first. Raanta smothered Selleck’s shot, but crumpled to the ice in obvious discomfort, favoring his left leg. After consulting with IceHogs’ trainer D.J. Jones, Raanta opted to stay in the game. He would stop one more San Antonio shot before deciding he couldn’t continue and Kent Simpson entered the contest with 14:24 to go in the opening period. Read more »

Saturday night afforded me a rare opportunity. With the Blackhawks hosting Tampa Bay and the IceHogs kicking off their season off in Texas, it was time for a little three-way action. Namely, the Hawks, the Hogs and me.

Could I handle two games at once? Here’s how the night shook out:

6:56 p.m.-The arena in Texas is playing Buddy Holly as I pick up the feed from AHL Live. I have Comcast Sportsnet on the big screen and the Hogs on the small screen via my laptop. I like to listen to the visitors broadcast to get the local flavor-isn’t that why the internet is so great? However, I have to get my (Mike) Peck on for at least a while tonight. Read more »